Stand Still Look Pretty
by tnuccio
Summary: She's beautiful, arrogant and vain. At least that's what the world see's when they look at Rosalie Hale. Your past can either define you or drive you. Rosalie's made her. A look into the past that defined Rosalie.


Pen name: tnuccio  
Rating: R (for mentions of Rosalie's past)  
Pairing: Rosalie/Emmett, Edward/Bella  
Title (if applicable): **Stand Still, Look Pretty**

Summary: She's beautiful, arrogant and vain. At least that's what the world see's when they look at Rosalie Hale. Your past can either define you or drive you. Rosalie's made her, everyday she fights the torment and insecurity that was frozen into her on one fateful night. Then Bella gives her a chance to save herself and become more than just a pretty face.

a/n: Flashbacks from Eclipse, Breaking Dawn and Song lyrics (Stand Still, Look Pretty by The Wreckers) are included and quoted or italicized in this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

I feel so bad, it took me forever to get this done and then I couldn't get it beta'd before I submitted it to MsKathy…so if you have her version I can assure you this one is one hundred times better because it was thoroughly ripped apart by withthevampsofcouse. I'd like to thank her as always for being pure gold…Just like Ponyboy.

This is my first attempt at third person and it gets a little choppy between flashbacks so I have italicized and indented where we're going back in time. I've also quoted and italicized the direct quotes or ideas from Eclipse.

I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

"_My story…doesn't have a happy ending – but which of ours does? If we had happy endings, we'd all be under gravestones now."_

The words flashed through her head as she pulled Bella into her arms and sprinted to the library where Carlisle has set up a mini emergency room. It was time. The baby was coming and she had to follow through on her promise. She would let one die if it was the only way for the other to live. That's what Bella wanted, and she had promised she would help her achieve it.

But her mind kept running through her memories; they flooded her conscious as she held the scalpel. Her hand shook.

"_It was 1933, I was 18 and beautiful…perfect…my parents wanted more, their social aspirations, my beauty was a gift to them, I wanted to be loved, to be adored." _

_I wanted to be treasured,_ she thought as she watched Edward work to save the one thing in life _he_ treasured.

But she knew she was nothing more than a rusty tiara; there was a difference.

The scent of Bella's blood filled her senses and she was caught off guard. She was embarrassed by her weakness. Embarrassed that it was the mutt who had to keep her back when her instincts kicked it.

She felt Alice pull her back and tell her it would be okay.

I'm slowly falling apart…

_I want to paint my face  
And pretend that I am someone else  
Sometimes I get so fed up  
I don't even want to look at myself  
_

She ran from the house, ran from Edward and the uncertainty she held in her heart. It was harder than she thought it would be. She ran to the woods where images continued to flood her mind.

She remembered her best friend from when she was human. Her mind filled with visions of Vera laughing, her belly full with child. She remembered how she thought less of her best friend because she married down. She scoffed at the notion of love over security. Surely you could be loved and secure at the same time.

Rage filled her veins as she remembered her naiveté.

She had been envious. In her heart she knew Royce King would never treasure her like Vera was treasured. Memories of a life gone by continued to inundate her.

A beautiful little boy with dimples and curly black hair.

The love of a mother and her child.

The simple wrapping of four little fingers around a single larger one.

The warmth of a love Rosalie knew she'd never really experienced in her human life.

She remembered the dress her mother made her wear to the bank that fateful day. The dress that would assure the Hale's future in society. Rosalie was offered up that day in a pretty white organza dress. She'd worn the dress her mother laid out for her and succeeded in capturing the attention of the man who would give her an eternity to understand what would always be expected of her in some way.

You just stand still look pretty…

_But people have problems that are worse than mine  
I don't want you to think I'm complaining all the time  
And I hate the way you look at me I have to say  
I wish I could start over_

_  
_She doubled over when she'd finally run far enough away. She fell to her knees in front of the river and screamed.

She'd seen Royce under the lights in the street with his friends. It hadn't really seemed odd that he wanted to show her off. _He liked people to look at them, the pretty couple. He liked Rosalie to be on his arm._

Her vampire mind flew quickly through images - Royce and her at a ball, her parent's looks of approval, of Vera's husband stealing a kiss. She remembered when Royce kissed her. _I__t wasn't quite the same – not so sweet, somehow._

She thought back to how he looked at her as she had approached him and his friends on the street. His eyes scanned her body and she saw a glimmer in his eyes.

His treasure to show off.

She knew the part she had to play. She smiled as she approached them. It hurt to think he'd treat her this way in front of his friends, treat her like an object for their pleasure. What hurt the most was the way they looked at her, like she was something that could be bought.

And then the pain came.

The tugging.

The pulling.

The pushing and tearing.

In the end she wasn't a treasure. She was nothing more than a joke to them. She smiled as the pain ripped through her body - so much for her beauty. She heard a voice, warm and kind as she felt strong hard arms close around her.

I can't even believe that this is my life.

_I am slowly falling apart  
I wish you'd take a walk in my shoes for a start  
You might think it's easy being me  
You just stand still, look pretty  
_

Her thoughts drifted back to Edward and Bella and she found herself wishing she could cry more than any other time in her life. She sat back against a rock as she recalled the vitriol in his voice when she was coming to after her change.

"_What were you thinking? Rosalie Hale?"_

She heard voices whispering as the ravaging pain slowed. She wondered if she was in Hell; she surely deserved it. Vanity was, after all, a sin. She heard them speaking again. "_It was too much – too horrible, too much waste,"_ one of the voices said. The other responded, _"People die all the time."_

The way her name came off his tongue, it was as if she were something dirty, worthy of what they'd done to her.

Somewhere in her head, she knew she didn't deserve what happened to her. But she had to wonder - would there ever be anyone who could see beyond the glamour that was Rosalie Hale?

And I hate the way you look at me. I have to say I wish I could start over.

_Sometimes I find myself shaking  
In the middle of the night  
And then it hits me and I can't  
Even believe this is my life  
_

She remembered how she used to run for miles. Away from her new family. Away from the assumption that she could be more to Edward. He had never seen her as more than he had that very first day. He had never thought there could be more hidden beyond the beauty. The thing with Edward was that he assumed he knew everything simply because he could hear what most people would never to think to say. But when you knew someone was listening, you could even lie convincingly to yourself.

Rosalie knew that it was those unspoken things that could hold the most meaning. Even those things couldn't be kept to one's self in a house with Edward. You learned very early on to hide your thoughts when they're no longer yours and yours alone. She smiled as she thought how was easy it was to let Edward believe she was as shallow as he thought. People who could read your mind assumed you always told yourself the truth if no one else. But it's always easy to lie.

It was easier for her to hide her hurt and pain, easier to be who he thought she was. Vain, and shallow. Only Emmett and Jasper truly knew how she felt. Emmett would never betray her confidence and Jasper respected the need to keep some things private in a family where secrets were near impossible.

Rosalie could remember the day she ran through the mountains to get away from them. She'd run and had hoped it'd make her feel again. She'd throw boulders to try and release her stress. She'd beat her hands on trees, but no matter how much damage she tried to inflict, she couldn't change what she was. She would always be the beautiful Rosalie Hale, no matter what she did. Rosalie could never escape what she was raised to be.

Running through the hills that day had done nothing to clear her mind. No matter how much she tried not to, she resented Carlisle for saving her. She resented having to look at her face every day and know what every man she came in contact with would think. If only she'd died before he'd gotten to her. Being dead would have ended the curse of her beauty, the only thing she ever felt she had to offer anyone. She had nothing of value to add to her new family. Carlisle had more compassion than any human she'd ever known. Edward was elusive and brooding, but even he gave off a ray of hope in his desolation. Esme loved unconditionally, even to her. She tried to fight the need to love her back. Unlike Esme and Carlisle, the only power she held was the same one she'd had all her life. The thing that brought about the end of her human life. She tried to outrun her mind, tried to outrun her loneliness, she into the mountains that fateful day and ran away from the feelings of emptiness and longing. She wanted to run until she could run no longer, but in truth she knew she'd never truly escape.

The memories continued to come as she sat and thought back to the more recent past, she remembered when she'd told Bella nearly a year ago, _"It took some time before I began to blame the beauty for what had happened to me."_

In truth, the superficial had won out. She'd always be as beautiful as her parents told her she was. She'd always be wanted. She'd always be reminded of everything she could never have.

She wished she could have been born plain. If she were plain, she could have married someone who loved her. She would have been able to have babies.

She sat along the river bank and thought of Henry, Vera's beautiful baby, Emmett.

She picked a rock off the sandy riverbed and wondered how long she'd been away from the house. Time really has no meaning to the forever young. There is no need to mark time when life doesn't change.

Rosalie heard Emmett before she saw him. She heard him coming up behind her; she could smell him - dark and woodsy.

"Babe…"

Her shoulders relaxed. Emmett.

Rosalie had been running through the mountains for so long by the time she'd come upon Emmett camping in the middle of nowhere all those years ago. He was stumbling around a campfire, a bottle of Tennessee Whisky sitting atop the rock. He was so full of life, vibrant even, so very beautiful.

She'd nearly buckled when she felt the pain rip through her deadened heart. What she wouldn't have done to 'settle' for the mountain man before her. No prestige, no piano, no money. Just passion… the passion he exuded.

She turned and ran from him. It wasn't meant to be. She was miles away when she smelled the blood. Human blood, the scent so delectable. She'd never actually tasted human blood, but this blood - it called to her like none other. She ran toward the scent, running through the woods haphazardly.

She came across her mountain man and a bear. He had been hurt but he wasn't backing down, yelling at the bear as it swiped its paw and connected with his chest. She stood, amazed, non-reactive. She saw the _dark curls and the dimples that showed despite his grimace of pain…the strange innocence that seemed so out of place on a grown man's face…he reminded her of Vera's little Henry. _

She flew at the bear and broke its neck.

_Not this one. He would not die._

As the sights and sounds of their initial meeting overwhelmed her senses, she felt Emmett embrace her from behind as she recalled her desire to save him.

Even though she hated what she was, she knew she had to have him_. _

_Maybe Edward has been right all these years_.

She was selfish.

She carried his dying body back to Carlisle and begged him. Told him he owed her, that is was the least he could do for her.

She needed him. Needed him to live.

At his touch, her body gave in. The anger gave way to grief. "Emmett, I failed her…" She turned and crumbled in his strong arms.

I wish you'd take a walk in my shoes for a start

_But people have problems that are worse than mine  
I don't want you to think I'm complaining all the time  
And I wish that everyone would go and shut their mouths  
I'm not strong enough to deal with it  
_

As Emmett held her tight, he shushed her cries and ran his hand through her hair. Rosalie's thoughts went to when Bella first came into their lives. She remembered the most was the way Edward looked at her. He would have died again for her and Rosalie thought about what that would mean for their family. She couldn't find it in herself to like Bella; she knew Bella would change everything; she knew the risk Bella posed to them.

She realized what she "hated" most about Bella wasn't the risk. She'd risk everything for Emmett. It wasn't what she could do to her family - it was the way Edward looked at her, like Vera's husband looked at Vera… he values her, he treasures her.

"You didn't fail her," Emmett says. "She still needs you, Edward and the baby need you. I need you, Rosalie. Don't go back to that dark place." He reached up and tilted her head.

"Please don't leave me here to do it on my own. Please come back with me."

Sometimes I find myself shaking in the middle of the night

_I am slowly falling apart  
I wish you'd take a walk in my shoes for a start  
You might think it's easy being me  
You just stand still, look pretty  
_

Emmett and Rosalie ran back to the house. They both stopped when the sound of a baby's cries filled their ears.

_Bella. _

Rosalie knew everyone thought she was stopping them from ending the life in Bella's belly because she wanted the baby for herself. Even Emmett questioned her; they believed she coveted what Bella had, something Rosalie never would have.

But that wasn't what it was. She respected Bella's choice to sacrifice herself for something bigger than herself. She respected her right to bring this life into the world, no matter what it meant to everyone else.

Bella was willing to die to protect her choice, a choice Rosalie would never have. A choice that was taken from her when she'd only started to want it. Rosalie knew Bella believed she was giving Edward his second chance, his proof that he had a soul, for something that was soulless could never bring life into the world. Bella was willing to give it all for Edward and Rosalie was willing to give it all to let her.

Rosalie cherished Bella's sacrifice.

_I am slowly falling apart  
I wish you'd take a walk in my shoes for a start  
You might think it's easy being me  
You just stand still, look pretty_

She heard Edward continuing to work on Bella, pumping her heart for her. Willing her not to die, not to leave him. He had never been so determined not to fail. Rosalie took the baby from Edward and walked the precious bundle to the living room. As she cradled the fragile baby in her arms, she prayed to the God she was now certain existed that her skin wasn't too hard on the small miracle.

She heard the faint stirring of a heart beat. Bella was strong. While Rosalie lain on the ground after being savaged and praying for death to take her, Bella fought for life. She fought for everything she knew would be there for her when she made it through. They both knew she'd be alright; Bella had proven she was stronger than any other person Rosalie knew in her many years.

And when she came back to them, Rosalie would be there somehow, now knowing she was more than the just a pretty face.

* * *

A/N: Well, there ya go…my take on Rosalie Hale, more than just a pretty face. It's not as pretty formatted as it is on Twilighted but FF seems to have tabbing limitations or something, I just couldn't get it to format correctly. I hope you didn't get to lost in the past and present.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think…

Hugs!

T


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